jpny01

I would agree that it's about as interesting as slow paste, but I'm not sure if I find it relaxing. (j/k about the paste).

I might have exaggerated a bit for the sake of drama. I actually thought Tossara En of Love was the worst BL I'd ever seen. There are worse ones in terms of quality of production, but some of those are really entertaining. I enjoyed So Much In Love because it was such a trainwreck, not despite it. It also had soem weirdly beautiful shots, as though a talented director seized control for 30 seconds every few episodes but then was chased away.

Cheat is like that too - it's full of horrible people doing horrible things, but it's so campy and OTT that it's fun. How many BLs have a flagellent nun and demonic pregnancy?

This series, though - maybe I can set it on 2x and get through the critiques of time spent studying and find the BL.

Yes - whenever they look at each other in a charged way, stereotypical 1970s porn music plays. You should really only do that if you're trying to be funny or satyrical, but sometimes it seems to be in serious moments.

It is normal to have a friend sleep over, but not if you're 7 and 12. That's weird, unless in a group setting.

The acting from the kids was excellent - that wouldn't have worked well otherwise. I'm still finding Kao too stiff and getting by on his looks and what he's getting from Up.

I think that analysis is correct, but I don't get why his world would fall apart. I guess it's possible because he's never felt this way for someone before and felt particularly vulnerable, but again, I feel like we needed to see more of what he was feeling. In a novel we can read what he's thinking. When we're watching the story instead of reading, we need to be shown. Because his crush on Sib has been shown in comedic terms, it hasn't had that gravitas for me. It's been cute and entertaining, but it didn't have that "totally crushed by a mild deception" gravitas.

A lot of people here have read the novel so they can fill in the blanks in their own heads. I'm relying on what I'm seeing to fill mine.

That could be, but we weren't shown that - we're having to fill in the blanks. It feels like there should have been a few more scenes - that's why I'm asking - the ep was shorter than past eps and I was wondering if this was a cut version or something.

I don't think Gene did anything wrong, as I said, but Aey hasn't either (yet). In public Gene often appeared to barely tolerate Nubsib's existence too.

When you're into someone, it's easy to not see the kinds of signals Sib is giving out. You have to work a little harder to miss it when it's as blatant as Sib is being, but then Sib treats everyone but Gene poorly.

That was strange. I'm with Gene's father - it's weird for a kid to hang out all the time and sleep with someone that much younger, especially when he has his own brother to play with. I have to think about this episode a little, but that whole relationship was odd and didn't really illuminate anything. I get why Sib would worhip the older boy showing him affection and attention, but I didn't really see Gene's motivation. What was he lacking that he turned to Sib for, and what did he get out of the relationship?

Also, a kid that young forgets - I don't even remember who I was friends with at that age. And more confusing, there's really no reason for Sib not to have told Gene who he was - he doesn't exactly look like a little kid anymore. Are you going to view a guy that big, muscly and handsome as some little kid brother? After that much time, you're resetting your relationship, except you're likely to have some trust and warm feelings due to nostalgia and family relations, so he threw away his best advantage.

And now Gene's reaction to the truth seems way OTT. I assumed there was something deeper that was hidden, like when they were a little older - maybe some sexual expirimentation, or romantic feelings on Gene's part that were crushed somehow (given how young Sib was, I'm really glad they didn't go there). I could get him being grumpy and irritated about it, but totally crushed and sobbing doesn't feel like the right reaction.

I'm still trying to figure out what this series is about. Is it a straightforward romance? There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't feel like that was the setup or marketing. Is it a parody of the BL culture and/or industry? It's barely touched that. Maybe there's a theme of pretending to be something other than yourself, but Gene's the main character and he doesn't do that (there's denial in there, but no pretense). I feel like there's something I'm missing, but I don't know what.

Aey told Gene that he liked Nubsib, and asked Gene if he was into Nubsib - and he lied. Aey is not in the wrong. Gene isn't really either, but he did encourage Aey to pursue Sib, which is strange and I don't blame Aey for not being happy about it.

When I watched Make It Right I was so into Tee, but I think Peak may have pulled ahead a bit in the intervening 4 years. When he had that cameo in Why RU, it took me a moment to recognize him he looked so beautiful. I couldn't sit through Never Eat Alone, but in that yellow outfit in the first episode Peak looked so cute it was actually painful. I hope we get to see him in a real BL soon.

I think it's the sudden change from enemies to lovers. There was no arc to it, so nothing to invest in. They hated each other so viscerally that I thought it was OTT and unpleasant to watch - and then they turned 180 degrees for no apparent reason and with no warning.

If they had at least started with hate sex it might have been more convincing - besides how funny it would have been, it would have explained their hatred as sublimated sexual attraction.

The "enemies" part was totally psycho - so much so that I didn't think anyone would care if they got together, but the "lovers" part was so sudden and OTT that I forgot this was the same story, so I bought into it. Mostly due to what Tue looks like.

And the 1970s porn music whenever they looked at each other - if it isn't a satire, there are some people involved that should consider a change of careers. If it is a satire, what was the point being made?

Is this a parody? I can't tell. The porn music every time they look at each other - porn music is really funny when it doesn't go anywhere - was that meant to be funny, or was it a metaphor for sexual attraction?

So this was enemies to lovers - with the enemies part psychotic hatred, then after an instant flip for no apparent reason, the lovers part was so sweet that I have diabetes now. The change was too sudden and too unmotivated. You need an arc to the relationship so that the viewers invest in it.

I was commenting to someone else that it would have worked better if they'd started out with hate sex, which would fit their personalities and show that their OTT animosity was sublimated sexual desire and at least explained the transition.

Is each story going to be a trope on steroids? Like someone has a girlfriend in the way of the ship that's so evil it turns out she's actually Hitler in disguise?

I did like that they wanted to touch each other and cuddle a lot, behaving like people actually in love.

A lot of people didn't like the ending, but it was perfect! That revolving shot on the rooftop - that was so funny.

I love it how the sound for his flashbacks start while he's still in the "present" and he doesn't know what's going on.

This isn't a shallow parody of BL - it's a meta parody, but there are underlying themes. I don't even how this ended up on my radar, but I'm glad it did.

The product placement in Ep 3 nearly killed me. Whoever wrote this is a genius.

The main one hasn't done anything really creepy yet - maybe by American standards where nobody is allowed to touch he's been mildly 'not quite right' - but I predict he'll be fine. Or he'll be bad and will be punished. This show has never normalized bad behavior.

You heard right - that was deliberate.

I think it's a misunderstand that the point of this is to make fun of the tropes - it is, but in a meta way, in that Mobu has to avoid the tropes so he can remain an "extra". If he trips and someone catches him, he has to turn gay (and is an uke). He's constantly having to make decisions - is the danger in the drinking invitation going and getting drunk, or is it not going and becoming the Lone Wolf?

Making fun of the tropes isn't what's clever - it's that they're a minefield that Mobu has to navigate, because if he gets caught in one, then he's a main character and so he has to turn gay. If he can avoid them, he can safely remain an "extra" - one of the characters in the background not important enough to end up in a pairing.

The cleverness is not from the tropes, it's from Mobu's struggle to remain an extra. The way everything he does is calculated to avoid tropes, because if he is caught in one, he's no longer an extra and has to turn gay. The tropes are like a minefield he's wending his way through. Like when he rejects his friend's invitation to go drinking as too risky, but then realizes he's put himself in danger of becoming the lone wolf character. In BLs, people deny their feelings until a trope - that's why he's avoiding them. Like in 90% of BLs, someone trips and is caught, and they stare at each other for super long. From that point it's inevitable.